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Virtual i-O i-glasses!

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(Redirected from Virtual I/O Glasses)
Virtual i-O i-glasses!
Basic Info
VR/AR Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality
Type Head-mounted display
Subtype PC-Powered VR, Vintage VR
Platform PC (DOS, Windows 95), Amiga, video game consoles, TVs, VCRs and other composite video sources
Creator Greg Amadon, Linden Rhoads
Developer Virtual i-O
Manufacturer Virtual i-O (1995-1997); i-O Display Systems (from 1997)
Announcement Date 25 July 1994 (SIGGRAPH, Orlando); formally launched at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show, January 1995
Release Date March 1995 (first US retail markets); professional (dental) version in the first quarter of 1995
Price Launch list prices (1995): US$599 (video version), US$799 (PC version with head tracker); 1996 line: US$399 (VTV), US$599 street at launch (VPC), later US$499 suggested retail
Versions i-glasses! video version, i-glasses! PC (later called Pro PC), professional (dental) version, VTV, VPC, VGA monochrome, Professional, ProTec
Requires PC version: VGA output set to 640 x 480 at 60 or 70 Hz and a free serial (COM) port; 486DX4-100, 8 MB RAM and a double-speed CD-ROM drive recommended. Video version: NTSC composite video source
System
Operating System DOS, Windows 95 (host PC)
Display
Display Two full-color liquid crystal displays
Resolution 180,000 pixels per LCD panel (manufacturer figure); PC input up to 640 x 480 (VGA)
Refresh Rate PC interface accepts VGA at 60-72 Hz
Image
Field of View 30 degrees per eye
Optics
Optics See-through heads-up optics; fixed focus at 13 feet, converged at 8 feet; clip-on immersion visor
Ocularity Binocular, 100% stereo overlap
IPD Range No IPD adjustment required
Adjustable Diopter No; can be worn over eyeglasses
Passthrough Optical see-through (opaque clip-on visor for immersive viewing)
Tracking
Tracking PC models: 3DoF (yaw, pitch, roll) sourceless orientation tracker, 250 Hz sample rate, RS-232C serial
Audio
Audio Built-in adjustable stereo earphones; 20 Hz-20 kHz frequency response (manufacturer figure)
Connectivity
Connectivity VGA input with monitor pass-through, RCA composite video, stereo RCA audio, RS-232C serial
Power 110 VAC adapter with 6 VDC (VTV) or 9 VDC (VPC) output; 3 watts consumption
Device
Weight 8 ounces (video headset); 12 ounces (VPC with head tracker)
Sensors Flux-gate magnetometer and gravity-referenced tilt sensor (head tracker)


The Virtual i-O i-glasses! (often shortened to i-glasses! or i-glasses, and also marketed as Virtual i-glasses!) were a series of head-mounted displays (HMDs) designed and manufactured by Virtual i-O, a Seattle company founded in 1993 by Greg Amadon and Linden Rhoads. The first models reached US stores in March 1995 at list prices of US$599 for a video-only version and US$799 for a PC version with a head tracker.[1] The eight-ounce headset used two small color LCDs to show a virtual screen that Virtual i-O described as an 80-inch screen viewed from 11 feet away.[1] It could display stereoscopic 3D images and connected to PCs, game consoles, TVs and VCRs.[2] Its see-through optics let wearers see the room around the virtual image, and the company marketed it for both virtual and augmented reality.[3]

The i-glasses were among the first affordable home VR headsets of the mid-1990s, alongside the VictorMaxx CyberMaxx and the Forte VFX1.[4] They also found a market in dental offices, where patients watched video during treatment.[5] Virtual i-O filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March 1997 and shut down soon afterward. Its product line was taken over later in 1997 by i-O Display Systems, which went on selling i-glasses-branded headsets.[6][7]

Reviewed 17 October 2026. New material checked against the archived Virtual i-O VTV, VPC, ProTec, comparison, accessory, Q&A, developer FAQ, Mac SDK, upgrade, low-vision, E3 1996 and president's letter pages, the 1995 press releases, Fortune 1996, Peli 1998 (Vision Research abstract) and Peli 1999 chapter, Google Patents records for US 5,903,395, US 5,991,085 and D375,495, heise online 2025 and Tech Monitor 1997. About review dates.

History

Founding and funding (1993-1994)

Virtual i-O Inc. was founded in May 1993 by Greg Amadon and Linden Rhoads, who set out to put computer and video displays inside lightweight eyeglasses.[2] Amadon had earlier founded Cellular Technical Services, a cellular billing software company that went public in 1991, and before that had worked as a CBS network news cameraman. Rhoads had managed market development at Cellular Technical Services and had worked as a software designer and documentation manager.[1][8] Amadon was chief executive and chairman, and Rhoads was president.[2]

According to Fortune, the founders pitched the idea to Seattle technology investors including Bill Gates and Craig McCaw before taking 900 pounds of computer and video equipment to Boothbay Harbor, Maine, where they set up a demonstration of an early version of the glasses in the garage of John Malone, chief executive of Tele-Communications Inc. (TCI). TCI became the startup's largest investor.[5] Contemporary reports and Virtual i-O's own press releases put TCI's stake at 35 percent in early 1995.[9][1] Logitech also invested in 1994.[10]

On 25 July 1994, at the SIGGRAPH show in Orlando, Virtual i-O announced the i-glasses! and a helmet-style product called Gamer!, with expected retail prices of under US$599 and under US$399 respectively. TCI agreed to market-test both products with its cable subscribers and with subscribers to the new Sega Channel. The company had 30 employees at the time.[10] In November 1994 Virtual i-O showed a professional version for dental patients at the Greater New York Dental Meeting, with delivery planned for the end of 1994 at US$699. The same release offered a developer kit for US$1,500.[10]

Launch (1995)

The i-glasses! won an Innovations '95 award from the Electronic Industries Association's Consumer Electronics Group, and Virtual i-O formally launched the product at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on 6-9 January 1995.[1] A January 1995 trade report archived by Tech Monitor described two versions: a base unit for TV and video at US$600 and a version with head tracking and PC capability at US$800.[9] The professional version for dental offices went on sale in the first quarter of 1995 through Patterson Dental.[2]

Consumer sales began in March 1995. A Virtual i-O release dated 16 March 1995 announced the product at a press event at Elek-Tek in Chicago and named Chicago and Denver as the first cities to receive it. San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and Seattle followed, and J&R Computer World in New York began selling it on 1 April.[1] Virtual i-O's late-March releases listed six bundled games: Heretic, Descent, Dark Forces, Magic Carpet, Tank Commander and Ascent. By July the company described Magic Carpet and Dark Forces as supported through included drivers, with the games sold separately.[1] Some later company material gives May 1995 as the release month of the PC product.[11]

Distribution widened through 1995. Ingram Micro took on national distribution in May. In June, Virtual i-O named the German computer maker Escom AG its exclusive distributor for Europe, and a Blockbuster Video superstore in Issaquah, Washington, began renting the headset for US$13.99 for two days. In July, CompUSA put the PC version in all 85 of its stores.[1] Escom's subsidiary Virtual Products GmbH said that it had developed a version for the European PAL video standard and that European dealers would have the product from 1 September 1995.[12] Virtual i-O's June release added that both versions accommodated the NTSC and PAL formats, that Escom would unveil the glasses in Germany at the Internationale Funkausstellung in Berlin (26 August to 3 September 1995), and that Escom expected to sell one-third of Virtual i-O's entire stock of product during the following year. Its July release said that the i-glasses were the only VR headset carried by CompUSA, which then had stores in 41 cities. In May 1995 Virtual i-O also demonstrated the headset at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) at the Los Angeles Convention Center.[1]

Software support grew over the same period. In May 1995 Virtual i-O announced that Microsoft and IBM would support the headset in future Windows 95 and OS/2 games. In October it said that Microsoft's Windows 95 Games SDK included full support for the i-glasses, so Windows 95 games could use the head tracker without a separate device driver.[1] In November 1995 the company said it had raised more than US$19 million in a second funding round. The investors included TCI, Thomson-CSF Ventures (US$6 million) and Planar Systems (US$2 million).[1] Planar also agreed to let Virtual i-O use its active matrix electroluminescent (AMEL) display panels in a new head-mounted display for the business market. The same release said that Virtual i-O would use part of the money to raise production because of a backlog of orders, that it planned a low-end consumer video product for console gaming in the first quarter of 1996, and that in the longer term it would concentrate on compact, high-resolution HMDs for small mobile computers.[1]

VTV and VPC (1996)

In March 1996 Virtual i-O expanded its consumer line with two cheaper models: the Virtual i-glasses! VTV ("Virtual TV"), a video-only headset at US$399, and the Virtual i-glasses! VPC ("Virtual PC"), a PC model with head tracking at a street price of US$599. The company described the virtual screen of both as 62 inches in size at 11 feet. The original PC product was renamed Pro PC.[2][11] By November 1996 Virtual i-O listed the VPC at a suggested retail price of US$499 and offered a US$149 kit to upgrade a VTV to a VPC.[13] Electronics Boutique ran a trade-in promotion through 31 October 1996 that cut the VTV to US$299.[14]

In June 1996 Blockbuster began renting the video headset at selected Washington and Oregon stores for US$14.99 for two days. In August 1996, at SIGGRAPH in New Orleans, the company introduced a high-end Virtual i-glasses! Professional with 1050 vertical lines of resolution and a 50-degree field of view.[11] By then the company said it employed more than 150 people. Its investors were TCI, Logitech, Thomson-CSF and Planar Systems.[11]

At E3 1996, held on 16-18 May at the Los Angeles Convention Center, Virtual i-O's booth hosted Virtual Voyage of Folsom, California, maker of the networkable, computer-equipped Virtual Voyager gaming pod.[15] The company's preview said that the two pods in the booth used i-glasses and that visitors could play EF2000, MechWarrior II and Locus on the headsets.[16] Upcoming i-glasses-compatible games seen at the show included Interplay's Shattered Steel, Activision's MechWarrior 2: Mercenaries and Bethesda's Terminator: SkyNet.[15] Fortune reported in July 1996 that head-tracking models were used in VR arcades and with PCs, and that the company was in discussions with TCI, Time Warner, DirecTV and the Discovery Channel about launching a 3-D channel for viewers wearing the glasses.[5]

In a 1996 letter on the company's website, Rhoads described Zombie's Locus, distributed by GT Interactive, as the first PC game designed specifically to be played with a VR headset. She also wrote that Virtual i-O planned another display product toward the end of 1996, designed for mobile computing and bundled with small screenless computers, in which head tracking would provide "a virtual bank of monitors" instead of a virtual world.[17]

Decline and bankruptcy (1996-1997)

A company question-and-answer page archived in April 1997 said that Virtual i-O had introduced the Virtual i-glasses! ProTec "earlier this year". It was a high-end model with a 640 x 480 screen, offered with single or dual channel input.[18] Its specification sheet listed a Model 110 that showed the same 2D image to both eyes and a Model 120 that could take two genlocked VGA channels, one per eye, for stereoscopic 3D, at a suggested retail price of US$7,995.[19]

Sales fell far short of the company's plans. Bankruptcy court papers reported by the Puget Sound Business Journal showed sales of US$4.5 million in 1995 and nearly US$8.9 million in 1996, against executives' predictions of US$25 million. That was not enough to cover the cost of making the headsets. According to the same papers, TCI had put in about US$17.9 million, and Planar Systems and Thomson brought total investment to US$19 million.[6]

Seattle journalist Fred Moody described the company's last months in his 1999 book The Visionary Position, published by Times Books, which followed five technology start-ups. In an excerpt published by Seattle Weekly, he wrote that Virtual i-O laid off staff in December 1996 and that a group of former employees, referred to in the book as "Deep Bile", passed him information about the company. He also wrote that by Christmas 1996 it was clear that the two founders were being forced out.[20] A turnaround management team was brought in during February 1997, and the company sought Chapter 11 protection in March 1997. It could not find new investors or a bank loan, and it closed in late April 1997.[6]

i-O Display Systems (from 1997)

By late October 1997 the business had been relaunched as i-O Display Systems LLC, based in Menlo Park, California, after a rescue by Ilixco Inc. and TCI. Ilixco owned 75 percent and TCI 25 percent. President Jeffrey Fergason said the company would continue to sell the i-glasses and would concentrate on niche markets. At the time it had 20,000 systems installed in US dental offices and 50,000 installed worldwide.[7] In 1998 its website promoted the i-glasses as a patient-relaxation product for dentists.[21]

The later history of the company is covered at I-O Display Systems. Later i-glasses-branded headsets from i-O Display Systems used newer microdisplays and are separate products. In April 2003 the company introduced the i-glasses HRV Pro, and at SID 2003 it showed the i-glasses SVGA Pro. The SVGA Pro accepted VGA or higher input, displayed 800 x 600 using Three-Five Systems Z86D-3 microdisplays, and worked with NVIDIA stereo drivers in its 3D-capable form. Jon Peddie Research gave online prices of US$1,199 and, for the 3D-capable glasses, US$1,499.[22] An Australian reseller's page for the i-glasses SVGA listed a 7-ounce headset with 800 x 600 resolution, a 120 Hz refresh rate, fixed focus with no IPD adjustment, and on-screen adjustment of color, brightness, contrast and image position.[23]

Design and hardware

Display and optics

Each headset has two full-color liquid crystal displays, one per eye. Virtual i-O rated the 1996 VTV and VPC panels at 180,000 pixels each and specified a 30-degree field of view per eye with 100 percent stereo overlap. The optics were fixed-focus at 13 feet and converged at 8 feet, which the company said reduced eye strain. They needed no interpupillary distance adjustment and could be worn over eyeglasses.[24][25] In a 1999 textbook chapter on head-mounted displays, vision scientist Eli Peli gave the i-glasses as an example of a system with a wide exit pupil that almost all users can view without adjustment, and gave its image distance as 4 m.[26] The Deutsches Museum, which holds a 1995 example, describes it as having 300 x 200 pixel resolution and a 30-degree field of view.[27] Some later retrospectives, such as a 2025 heise online article, describe the panels as 640 x 480 VGA displays;[28] Virtual i-O's own specifications give 180,000 pixels per panel and treat 640 x 480 VGA as the PC input format.[24][29]

The headset uses see-through optics. Virtual i-O's 1994 announcement said the virtual screen filled only part of the wearer's view, so peripheral vision stayed free. For dental use, patients could watch the screen and still see the dentist.[10] The museum notes that this partial transparency allowed augmented reality uses in brightly lit rooms.[27] A clip-on immersion visor blocked the outside view when needed. The frame folded, and the earphones were adjustable.[24] Peli's chapter explains how this works: when video plays, its contrast masks all but very bright scenes behind it, and when the display is muted the outside view becomes clear; the mechanical visor makes the device opaque. He also noted that a see-through display without head tracking asks the eyes to keep the outside world stable while the displayed image moves with the head, so one of the two images blurs during head motion.[26]

Stereo 3D came from interleaved video. On the composite video input, the even and odd fields of an interlaced signal went to opposite eyes, a format called field sequential. Dr. Peter Kittel of Amiga Technologies, writing for Amiga developers, described this and noted that a switch on the headset swapped the eye assignment.[30] The VPC's PC interface module supported both field-sequential and line-sequential 3D formats.[24]

Head tracker

The PC models came with a 3DoF head tracker that reported yaw, pitch and roll; it did not track head position. Virtual i-O specified a 250 Hz sample rate and an RS-232C serial interface.[24] The tracker is "sourceless": it needs no external transmitter. A patent for a sourceless orientation sensor (US 5,526,022) was filed on 6 January 1993 by Michael J. Donahue, Mark D. Pesce and three co-inventors, assigned first to Ono-Sendai Corporation and then, in October 1995, to Virtual I/O, and granted on 11 June 1996. It describes a flux-gate magnetometer that senses the Earth's magnetic field for heading and a fluid-filled chamber, read with LED light, that measures tilt against gravity.[31] In 1996 the company said it held a patent on its optical technology and had patents pending on head tracking.[8] Co-founder C. Gregory Amadon was also a named inventor on display patents. US 5,903,395, "Personal visual display system", was filed on 31 August 1994 by Richard Dennis Rallison, C. Gregory Amadon, Wolfgang Adam Mack Jr. and Leo Nikora and granted on 11 May 1999, after the product line had passed to i-O Display Systems; the inventors had assigned it to Virtual I/O in 1995. Its abstract describes a lightweight display that combines the generated image with light from the surroundings, can be switched from see-through to immersion with a removable shield, and can be worn over conventional eyeglasses.[32] US 5,991,085, a head-mounted display patent granted on 23 November 1999 with a 21 April 1995 priority date, describes among other features a head tracker that can be detached from the headset by unplugging its cable and undoing its straps, so that the display can be used without it, for example to watch movies.[33] A design patent for a head-mounted display, US D375,495, was filed on 20 July 1995 and granted to Virtual I-O on 12 November 1996.[34]

The developer documentation quoted in Amiga Report describes a command set sent over the serial line at 1200 to 19200 bps. It lists raw, calibrated ("cooked") and Euler-angle data modes, plus a Microsoft mouse emulation mode so that games without native support could map head turns to mouse movement. A CyberMaxx emulation mode was listed as not yet implemented.[30] The tracker strapped to the back of the headset with Velcro and could be removed for video-only use.[35]

Connections and power

PC models used an external interface box between the PC and its monitor. The PC's VGA output went to the box's VGA IN port, the monitor connected to VGA OUT, and the PC's serial port connected to the SERIAL/HEAD TRACKER port. A 9-volt transformer powered the box. Instructions from the Stanford Computer Graphics Laboratory, which owned a set in 1995, note that the box also had a VIDEO IN port for NTSC sources.[35] No internal card or new drivers were needed. Virtual i-O told PC users to set the display to 640 x 480 at 60 or 70 Hz and recommended at least a 486DX4-100 processor, 8 MB of RAM and a double-speed CD-ROM drive.[29] The V-Rtifacts collection notes that the maximum input resolution was 640 x 480. It also notes that the cables, the interface box and the power supply made the package too bulky to take everywhere.[4]

The VTV took NTSC composite video and stereo audio through RCA jacks. Both 1996 models drew 3 watts, from 6 VDC (VTV) or 9 VDC (VPC) adapters. The VTV weighed 8 ounces and the VPC, with its tracker, 12 ounces.[25][13] Virtual i-O's accessories page listed a battery kit sold by Emberley Productions of Larkspur, California, for portable video use. It combined a waist pack, a 6-volt 4.0 Ah gel-cell battery and an automatic charger, was rated at 12 hours per charge, and had a suggested retail price of US$150; the headset, battery and pack weighed two pounds together.[36]

Specifications

The table gives Virtual i-O's published specifications for the three models it documented in detail. The values are manufacturer figures.

Specification Virtual i-glasses! VTV (1996) Virtual i-glasses! VPC (1996) Virtual i-glasses! ProTec (1997)
Display Two full-color LCDs, 180,000 pixels per panel Two full-color LCDs, 180,000 pixels per panel 1.35-inch diagonal active-matrix TFT LCDs, VGA (640 x 480)
Optics Heads-up, see-through; clip-on immersion visor Heads-up, see-through; clip-on immersion visor Heads-up folded-reflective optics with independent optical paths for each eye; removable shield for immersive viewing
Field of view 30 degrees per eye, 100% stereo overlap 30 degrees per eye, 100% stereo overlap 42 degrees diagonal (16:9) or 34 degrees (4:3), user selectable
Focus Fixed at 13 feet, converged at 8 feet Fixed at 13 feet, converged at 8 feet Focal distance 12 feet
IPD and eyeglasses No IPD adjustment; can be worn with eyeglasses No IPD adjustment; can be worn with eyeglasses No focus or IPD adjustment; can be worn with eyeglasses
Virtual image Described as a 62-inch screen at 11 feet[2] Described as a 62-inch screen at 11 feet[2] 108-inch diagonal (16:9) or 88-inch diagonal (4:3)
Video input 1 NTSC channel (RCA), field-sequential 3D VGA input with pass-through output (60-72 Hz), single RCA video input; field- and line-sequential 3D VGA (640 x 480), 31.5 kHz horizontal, 60 or 70 Hz progressive; Model 110 one input, Model 120 two genlocked inputs; NTSC and PAL need a user-supplied converter
Head tracker None (upgrade kit available) 3DoF (pitch, roll, yaw), 250 Hz, RS-232C Optional 3DoF (pitch, roll, yaw), 250 Hz, RS-232C
Audio Stereo RCA, 1 V peak-to-peak, 20 Hz-20 kHz Stereo RCA, 1 V peak-to-peak, 20 Hz-20 kHz Attached adjustable stereo headphones; stereo RCA, 1 V peak-to-peak, 20 Hz-20 kHz
Power 110 VAC adapter, 6 VDC output; 3 W 110 VAC adapter, 9 VDC output; 3 W 9 V supply; 8 W
Weight 8 ounces 12 ounces 12.5 ounces
Suggested retail price US$399 US$499 (late 1996) US$7,995

Sources: VTV,[25] VPC,[24] VTV and VPC comparison,[13] ProTec.[19]

Models

Model Introduced Market Specifications (manufacturer) Price
i-glasses! professional version Announced November 1994; on sale first quarter 1995 Dental patient distraction, sold through Patterson Dental See-through video headset that accommodates prescription glasses US$699 planned (1994); US$649 (May 1995); US$449 (late 1996)[10][1][37]
i-glasses! (video version) March 1995 TV, VCR and game consoles 8 ounces, full color, stereo sound US$599 list[1]
i-glasses! PC (later Pro PC) March 1995 PC gaming Adds VGA interface box and 3DoF head tracker US$799 list[1]
i-glasses! VGA (binocular and monocular) Shown May 1995 (VR World '95) Government, military, business, OEM Monochrome, 640 x 480; image comparable to a 40-inch screen at 6 feet US$3,500 (binocular) and US$2,500 (monocular), pre-production[1]
Virtual i-glasses! VTV March 1996 TV, video and consoles 180,000 pixels per LCD, 30 degrees per eye, 8 ounces US$399[25]
Virtual i-glasses! VPC March 1996 PC gaming 180,000 pixels per LCD, 30 degrees per eye, 250 Hz tracker, 12 ounces US$599 street at launch; US$499 suggested retail (late 1996)[11][24]
Virtual i-glasses! Professional August 1996 (SIGGRAPH) Research and high-end 2D/3D production 1050 vertical lines, 16:9 or 4:3, 50-degree field of view US$40,000-50,000 in the press release; US$6,000 in a feature on the company's website[11][38]
Virtual i-glasses! ProTec Listed by April 1997 High-end computer and video display 1.35-inch active-matrix TFT LCDs, 640 x 480, 42 degrees diagonal (16:9) or 34 degrees (4:3), 12.5 ounces, 8 watts US$7,995[19]

Software and compatibility

The i-glasses connected to PCs, game systems from Sega, Nintendo and Sony, and TVs and VCRs.[1] Earlier 1995 releases also named Atari and 3DO systems.[1] The Escom announcement also listed Amiga computers as compatible.[12] Kittel explained that an Amiga 1200 would need only the glasses and the tracker, without the PC version's VGA conversion box, and that the tracker connected directly to the Amiga's serial port.[30]

Virtual i-O worked directly with game developers and in 1995 named id Software, LucasArts, Bullfrog, Parallax Software, Raven Software and others as partners.[1] The PC bundle changed over time. By late 1996 the VPC shipped with MechWarrior 2, Heretic, Doom, In Pursuit of Greed, Witchaven, Ascent and Descent. The company also offered free head-tracking drivers for other games through its FTP site.[24] A February 1996 promotion listed Falcon, Magic Carpet I and II, Dark Forces, Doom, F-14 Fleet Defender, 1942 Pacific Air War and F-16 Strike Eagle among the titles that supported the headset.[11] Developers could buy a kit containing an i-glasses unit, 3D and head-tracking specifications, sample code and technical support for US$1,500.[1]

By May 1996 the developer program had two levels. Level 1 cost US$50 and included the software and manual. Level 2 cost US$1,500 with a headset, or US$700 for developers who already owned one, and added the PC interface unit, a one-year extended warranty, priority support, trade-show loan units and a US$1,000 credit for publishing a title promoted as Virtual i-O compatible. The routines were written in standard C with make files for the Borland and Watcom compilers, plus code for MSVC and other 32-bit compilers. Most of them handled the head tracker; the kit also included the source of Virtual i-O's drivers for Dark Forces and Heretic and one example of drawing a stereo image. Head-tracking drivers for SGI workstations were sold at the Level 1 price, and showing two separate video sources in the headset required an external multiplexer.[39] In 1996 the company also completed an unsupported Macintosh developer kit for the VPC, with Pascal libraries for the Metrowerks compiler. Its notes warned that the VPC interface accepted only 60, 70 and 72 Hz signals while most Power Macintosh video modes ran at 67 or 75 Hz, and that the composite output of AV Macs could not be used for stereoscopic video because the Mac's NTSC encoder did not split scan lines into separate fields.[40]

The US$149 VTV-to-VPC upgrade included the head tracker, the PC interface and a CD-ROM with MechWarrior II, Doom, Heretic, Ascent, Descent, In Pursuit of Greed, Locus and Witchaven, plus drivers for games such as 1942 Pacific Air War, Falcon Gold, F-15 Strike Eagle III, F-14 Fleet Defender, Dark Forces and Magic Carpet.[41]

Uses

Dental offices were the first customers. Fortune reported in 1996 that the company's first customers were dentists, who used the goggles to show patients movies during treatment.[5] Patterson Dental sold the professional version as a patient distraction device.[1] By October 1997 i-O Display Systems counted 20,000 systems in US dental offices.[7]

Other uses were in research and the military. In May 1995 Virtual i-O said the U.S. Army Research Laboratory at Aberdeen Proving Ground was using its VGA headset in research on replacing fixed displays used to control unmanned ground vehicles.[1] The Stanford Computer Graphics Laboratory documented its pair of i-glasses on its Exotic I/O Devices page in 1995.[35] Mark Pesce, co-creator of VRML, endorsed the product in a 1995 Virtual i-O release, calling the i-glasses "the first head-up display which have been designed, from the ground up, with human beings in mind".[1]

A 1996 feature on Virtual i-O's website said that Innoventions, Inc. marketed the i-glasses as an optional display for its Magni-Cam, a portable electronic magnifier and reading aid for people with low vision; buyers could choose a 25-ounce portable monitor or the 7-ounce i-glasses.[42]

Vision research

The headset was used in a study of the visual effects of HMDs by Eli Peli of the Schepens Eye Research Institute at Harvard Medical School, published in Vision Research in 1998. The study measured binocular vision, accommodation and resolution after 30 minutes of HMD use in stereoscopic and non-stereoscopic modes and compared the changes with those after the same task on a desktop CRT display. It found no functional differences between the HMD and the CRT, and most measured changes were too small to be clinically meaningful. A comfort evaluation found the HMD in stereoscopic mode significantly less comfortable than the CRT.[43] In his 1999 chapter Peli identified the HMD as the i-glasses, used in stereo and bi-ocular modes, and the task as playing the game Ascent (Gravity Inc.), whose disparities all stayed within a comfortable range. He reported no comfort difference between the stereo and bi-ocular modes, and concluded that the results did not clearly support the idea that the decoupling of accommodation and convergence in stereo displays (the vergence-accommodation conflict) causes the discomfort or visual changes reported in earlier HMD studies.[26]

Reception

Reviews and awards

Paul Andrews reviewed the i-glasses for The Seattle Times in July 1995 and called them "this year's most intriguing technological breakthrough". He praised the light weight, the comfort, the fit over eyeglasses and the absence of eyestrain. He found the picture grainy at first, said computer text was "not quite there yet", and reported that PC setup took about half an hour and had to follow the manual exactly. He also warned that the 3D games could cause vertigo in people prone to motion sickness.[44]

According to Virtual i-O's press releases, the product won several industry awards. They included the Innovations '95 award at the 1995 Winter CES,[1] the Best Product Award at RetailVision Spring '95, voted by more than 800 retailers, and the Outstanding Hardware Product Award at VR World '95. Virtual i-O also reported a 1995 R&D 100 Award from R&D Magazine, CyberEdge Journal's 1994 Hardware Product of the Year award and a Popular Mechanics 1996 Design & Engineering Award.[1]

Commercial performance

Virtual i-O called the i-glasses the best-selling VR headset on the consumer market in 1995. The company also reported a backlog of orders in November 1995.[1] Court figures later showed annual sales of US$4.5 million in 1995 and nearly US$8.9 million in 1996. The average consumer unit sold for about US$480, and an industrial model cost nearly US$8,000.[6] The Puget Sound Business Journal wrote that the company "received high marks for its technology and was considered the leader in a small market". Jim Willcox, a senior editor at the consumer electronics magazine TWICE, told the paper that the headsets were still expensive, needed demonstrations, and did not stand up to abuse on retail floors, so many store demos did not work. He also said their resolution was below what consumers were used to on television. In Willcox's view, Virtual i-O's failure marked the end of a wave of companies trying to sell VR headsets to consumers.[6]

Legacy and preservation

The Deutsches Museum in Munich has a 1995 i-glasses! Personal 3D Viewer in its collection, which it describes as a popular, relatively inexpensive VR headset with an optional head tracker.[27] The V-Rtifacts collection reports that its 1995 unit still works with modern PCs, limited by the 640 x 480 input resolution.[4] In a December 2025 retrospective of 1990s and 2000s headsets, heise online's Josef Erl placed the i-glasses among the most technically sophisticated VR headsets of their era and wrote that they did not achieve commercial success despite good reviews.[28]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 1.24 1.25 "1995 Press Releases". Virtual i-O. Virtual i-O, Inc.. 1995. http://web.archive.org/web/19961119121209/http://vio.com:80/vio/about/95press.html. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 "Virtual i-O Corporate Background". Virtual i-O. Virtual i-O, Inc.. 1996. http://web.archive.org/web/19961119115332/http://vio.com:80/vio/about/background.html. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  3. ↑ "Welcome to Virtual i-O". Virtual i-O. Virtual i-O, Inc.. 1996. http://web.archive.org/web/19961119114245/http://vio.com:80/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "1995 Virtual IO I-Glasses". V-Rtifacts. https://vrtifacts.com/1995-virtual-io-i-glasses/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Erick Schonfeld (1996-07-08). "Virtual I-O Virtual-Reality Headgear". Fortune. http://web.archive.org/web/20100715194017/http://money.cnn.com:80/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1996/07/08/214358/index.htm. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 M. Sharon Baker (1997-05-23). "Effort to salvage Virtual i-O fails". Puget Sound Business Journal. http://web.archive.org/web/20050707080729/http://www.bizjournals.com:80/seattle/stories/1997/05/26/story4.html. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 "Failed Virtual I/O Enjoys a New Lease of Life". Tech Monitor. 1997-10-26. https://techmonitor.ai/?p=188190. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Products: Questions and Answers". Virtual i-O. Virtual i-O, Inc.. 1996. http://web.archive.org/web/19961119115111/http://vio.com:80/vio/products/qna.html. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Virtual I-O Glasses Create Floating Images". Tech Monitor. 1995-01-20. https://techmonitor.ai/?p=137843. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 "1994 Press Releases". Virtual i-O. Virtual i-O, Inc.. 1994. http://web.archive.org/web/19961119121217/http://vio.com:80/vio/about/94press.html. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 "1996 Press Releases". Virtual i-O. Virtual i-O, Inc.. 1996. http://web.archive.org/web/19961119115339/http://vio.com:80/vio/about/press.html. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Virtual i - O Glasses: Escom - Virtual i - O glasses gateway to Europe". Champaign-Urbana Computer Users Group. 1995-07-28. https://www.cucug.org/amiga/aminews/1995/at950801.html. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 "Comparison of VTV and VPC Products". Virtual i-O. Virtual i-O, Inc.. 1996. http://web.archive.org/web/19961119115102/http://vio.com:80/vio/products/compare.html. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  14. ↑ Mark Englehart (1996). "Electronics Boutique Trades Games For Headsets". Virtual i-O. Virtual i-O, Inc.. http://web.archive.org/web/19961119114648/http://vio.com:80/vio/vrsource/feature/eb299.html. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Todd Rowan (1996). "E3 Wrap-Up: The Scene at E3". Virtual i-O. Virtual i-O, Inc.. http://web.archive.org/web/19961119115648/http://vio.com:80/VIO/VRSOURCE/FEATURE/POSTE3.HTML. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
  16. ↑ Mark Englehart (1996). "Electronic Entertainment Expo". Virtual i-O. Virtual i-O, Inc.. http://web.archive.org/web/19961119115628/http://vio.com:80/VIO/VRSOURCE/FEATURE/E3.HTML. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
  17. ↑ Linden Rhoads (1996). "Letter from the President". Virtual i-O. Virtual i-O, Inc.. http://web.archive.org/web/19961119115635/http://vio.com:80/VIO/VRSOURCE/FEATURE/PREZ.HTML. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
  18. ↑ "Products: Questions and Answers". Virtual i-O. Virtual i-O, Inc.. 1997. http://web.archive.org/web/19970424063045/http://vio.com:80/vio/products/qna.html. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 "Virtual i-glasses! ProTec Technical Specifications". Virtual i-O. Virtual i-O, Inc.. 1997. http://web.archive.org/web/19970424062334/http://vio.com:80/vio/products/protec.html. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  20. ↑ Fred Moody (2006-10-09). "Books Quarterly: All in a Day's Work at Virtual i/O". Seattle Weekly. https://www.seattleweekly.com/arts/books-quarterly-all-in-a-days-work-at-virtual-i-o/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  21. ↑ "i-glasses Website". i-O Display Systems. i-O Display Systems, Inc.. 1998. http://web.archive.org/web/19980210212653/http://www.i-glasses.com:80/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  22. ↑ Robert Dow (2003-07-07). "i-O Display shows off PRO SVGA compatible headset at SID 2003". Jon Peddie Research. https://www.jonpeddie.com/news/i-o-display-shows-off-pro-svga-compatible-headset-at-sid-2003/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  23. ↑ "i-O Display Systems i-glasses SVGA". Mindflux. Jasandre Pty. Ltd.. 2006. http://www.mindflux.com.au/products/io-display/iglassesSVGA.html. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 24.3 24.4 24.5 24.6 24.7 "Virtual i-glasses! VPC Technical Specifications". Virtual i-O. Virtual i-O, Inc.. 1996. http://web.archive.org/web/19961119115050/http://vio.com:80/vio/products/vpc.html. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 25.2 25.3 "Virtual i-glasses! VTV Technical Specifications". Virtual i-O. Virtual i-O, Inc.. 1996. http://web.archive.org/web/19961119115056/http://vio.com:80/vio/products/vtv.html. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 26.2 Eli Peli (1999). "Optometric and Perceptual Issues with Head-mounted Displays". Visual Instrumentation: Optical Design and Engineering Principles (ed. Pantazis Mouroulis), chapter 6. McGraw-Hill. https://pelilab.partners.org/papers/Peli_Chapter%206_OptometricPercept_1999.pdf. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 "Virtual i-O i-glasses! Personal 3D Viewer head-mounted display". Google Arts & Culture. Deutsches Museum. https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/virtual-i-o-i-glasses-personal-3d-viewer-head-mounted-display/4wHrXHZrWs9ZBA. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 Josef Erl (2025-12-23). "VR glasses from the 90s and 2000s: No Meta Quest without them". heise online. https://www.heise.de/en/background/VR-glasses-from-the-90s-and-2000s-No-Meta-Quest-without-them-11124174.html. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 "Common Technical Support Questions". Virtual i-O. Virtual i-O, Inc.. 1996-09-26. http://web.archive.org/web/19961119115227/http://vio.com:80/vio/tech_support/techfaq.html. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 30.2 Peter Kittel (1995). "I-Glasses". Amiga Report. https://bigbookofamigahardware.com/amigareport/www.amigareport.com/ar317/feature4.html. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  31. ↑ Michael J. Donahue, Mark D. Pesce, Marc de Groot, Michael A. Perry, Donald E. Drumm (1996-06-11). "US5526022A - Sourceless orientation sensor". Google Patents. https://patents.google.com/patent/US5526022A/en. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  32. ↑ Richard Dennis Rallison, C. Gregory Amadon, Wolfgang Adam Mack Jr., Leo Nikora (1999-05-11). "US5903395A - Personal visual display system". Google Patents. https://patents.google.com/patent/US5903395A/en. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
  33. ↑ "US5991085A - Head-mounted personal visual display apparatus with image generator and holder". Google Patents. 1999-11-23. https://patents.google.com/patent/US5991085A/en. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
  34. ↑ "USD375495S - Head mounted display". Google Patents. 1996-11-12. https://patents.google.com/patent/USD375495S/en. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
  35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 35.2 "Virtual I/O's iglasses! Head Mounted Display". Stanford Computer Graphics Laboratory. Stanford University. 1995-10-12. https://graphics.stanford.edu/infrastructure/gamma-corrected/iglasses.html. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  36. ↑ "Accessories". Virtual i-O. Virtual i-O, Inc.. 1996. http://web.archive.org/web/19961119115126/http://vio.com:80/vio/products/access.html. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
  37. ↑ Mark Englehart (1996). "Dental Distraction". Virtual i-O. Virtual i-O, Inc.. http://web.archive.org/web/19961119115407/http://vio.com:80/vio/vrsource/feature/dental.html. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  38. ↑ Mark Englehart (1996). "Introducing Virtual i-glasses! Professional". Virtual i-O. Virtual i-O, Inc.. http://web.archive.org/web/19961119114642/http://vio.com:80/vio/vrsource/feature/hires.html. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
  39. ↑ "Game Developers' Frequently Asked Questions". Virtual i-O. Virtual i-O, Inc.. 1996-05-01. http://web.archive.org/web/19961119115258/http://vio.com:80/vio/dev_info/dev_faqs.html. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
  40. ↑ Todd Rowan (1996). "How to Connect your Macintosh to Virtual i-glasses VPC". Virtual i-O. Virtual i-O, Inc.. http://web.archive.org/web/19961119115803/http://vio.com:80/vio/vrsource/feature/macdk.html. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
  41. ↑ Mark Englehart (1996). "How to Upgrade your Virtual i-glasses! VTV for your PC". Virtual i-O. Virtual i-O, Inc.. http://web.archive.org/web/19961119115726/http://vio.com:80/vio/vrsource/feature/upgrade.html. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
  42. ↑ Mark Englehart (1996). "Virtual i-glasses! Act as Peripheral for Low Vision Aid". Virtual i-O. Virtual i-O, Inc.. http://web.archive.org/web/19961119115707/http://vio.com:80/vio/vrsource/feature/lovision.html. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
  43. ↑ Eli Peli (1998-06). "The visual effects of head-mounted display (HMD) are not distinguishable from those of desk-top computer display". Vision Research, vol. 38, no. 13, pp. 2053-2066. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0042-6989(97)00397-0. Retrieved 2026-10-17.
  44. ↑ Paul Andrews (1995-07-09). "I Up Close & Visual: Virtual I-O's I-Glasses Are An Eye-Popping Home-Theater-On-A-Head". The Seattle Times. https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19950709/2130465/i-up-close-amp-visual----virtual-i-os-i-glasses-are-an-eye-popping-home-theater-on-a-head. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
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